


It's Still The Same Old Story

by lhknox



Series: As Time Goes By [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Films, Fluff, Romance, Sundance festival, happy endings, just nothing but fluff, propsals, romantic Lexa, theyre all such saps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 13:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7894726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lhknox/pseuds/lhknox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You don’t deserve just one big thing to show you my love, you don’t deserve a week’s full. You deserve every single moment for the rest of our lives. You deserve an eternity where you understand just how incredible you are, and just how happy you make me."</p><p>or,</p><p>Lexa plans the perfect proposal for the woman she loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Still The Same Old Story

**Author's Note:**

> I just couldn't let this lie so here you go. Maybe we'll get another one shot in the future, who knows (not me that's who).
> 
> I recommend you listen to Dooley Wilson's version of As Time Goes By when the time comes (you'll know when).

 

“Yeah, Anya. I’m sure. I’m positive. You know how much I love her. Yes, I’ve gotten her mother’s blessing. Yes, I know it’s an archaic practice. No, I’m not rushing into anything. It’s gonna be perfect. And I’m gonna need your help.”

 

///

 

**Monday:**

 

Clarke hates being late, and after three years Lexa knows this. Which is why Clarke is pissed off. She’s been waiting for her girlfriend for twenty minutes, and Lexa isn’t answering her phone. Pacing around the apartment, she calls Anya, with the hope that she’ll know where Lexa is.

 

“Griff,” Anya greets on the third ring.

“Anya, where is my girlfriend?” Clarke asks, and she swears she can hear Anya smirk through the phone.

“I am not her keeper, Clarke,” she replies, somewhat bored.

“She was with you all afternoon--” Anya hangs up and Clarke rolls her eyes at her friend’s antics. She calls Lexa’s number to try once more.

“Lexa Woods,” she grumbles into the phone as it goes to voicemail, “I know you are stressed out because your film is premiering at Sundance, but all I ask is that you make it home in time to pick me up for our dinner reservations at a very expensive restaurant that  _ you _ chose. Call me back.” 

 

She hangs up the phone, and opens her laptop to kill the time. On a whim, she googles Lexa’s name, getting a kick out of the girl’s photo popping up straight away. She reads the articles about the filmmaker, pride surging in her chest. In their just-more-than three years together, Clarke had watched Lexa transform from a student with a dream to a writer-director whose debut film was about to premiere at Sundance Freakin’ Film Festival. A script written for her senior project, All I Ask was highly anticipated and heightening Lexa’s stress. And, by extension, Clarke’s stress. Because watching her girlfriend be in an almost constant state of panic tended to stress Clarke a lot. Not to mention their move in a week’s time. She must be crazy-- packing up an entire apartment, sending it across the country and taking a pitstop in Utah before joining all of their possessions.

 

She can hear music playing from somewhere, and it’s starting to get on her nerves. It gets louder and louder, and eventually Clarke can’t take it anymore. She stalks around the apartment, trying to find which neighbour it’s coming from. Standing in the middle of her bedroom, she stops and frowns. She knows that song.

 

_ In your eyes _

_ The light the heat _

_ In your eyes _

_ I am complete _

 

Clarke walks towards her balcony, pausing with her hand on the door handle. Her heart races. She steps onto the small terrace and stares down to the street. Sure enough, there stands Lexa, dressed to the nines and holding a boombox above her head with Peter Gabriel blasting out of it. Clarke throws her head back with a laugh, her heart bursting with affection, and all traces of annoyance falling away.

 

“Thank god,” Lexa calls out, “this is the third time I had to play it.”

“This is why you’re late?” Clarke replies.

“Do you know how hard it is to find an authentic boombox from 1989?”

 

Shaking her head, Clarke heads downstairs, kissing her girlfriend when she reaches her.

 

“What’s the special occasion?” Clarke asks.

“Can’t I just love my girlfriend and shower her with romantic movie references?”

“Shut up and take me to dinner, you nerd.”

 

They sit in a small booth at one of the most expensive restaurants in D.C. In the middle of a move to Los Angeles, they’ve spent the past few nights eating cheap take out due to their lack of kitchen utensils. The dimly lit restaurant and calm atmosphere is a nice reprieve from their usual mess of friends and chaos. The waitress clears away their plates, and on Lexa’s request, brings them dessert and champagne.

 

“Clarke?” Lexa whispers as the blonde takes a spoonful of chocolate cake.

“Lexa?” Clarke feels shaky. The Say Anything moment. The fancy restaurant. The champagne with dessert. 

“I love you,” the brunette says simply.

“I love you, too.”

“I have an important question to ask you.” Clarke gasps softly, covering her mouth with both hands. Here it is. Here it comes.

 

“Clarke… will you… decide on which dresses you’re wearing to Sundance so we won’t clash?” Clarke’s hands drop to the table. Lexa picks up her fork, taking a bite of cake with a cheeky smile.

 

“You’re an asshole, Lexa.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Clarke.”

 

///

 

**Tuesday:**

 

“Well that’s it,” Clarke sighs, “the last box.” She stands up and looks around the apartment, tears springing to her eyes. This apartment had been her home with Lexa for over two years. She had moved in with the love of her life at the end of junior year, using their summer vacation to settle in and explore the new parameters of their relationship. Her memories here were some of the happiest of her life. This was where they had gotten news of funding for Lexa’s motion picture. This is where Clarke got the call offering her a position at a small publishing firm, and where they had informed her that they wanted her to head their West Coast office. This was the apartment where Clarke and Lexa had held countless Movie Nights, where they’d laughed and bickered with their friends, where Anya had finally admitted that she counted Clarke as one of her closest friends. This was also where they had fought about stupid things, each too stubborn for their own good. It was where Clarke had had found Lexa passed out on the floor after the brunette had refused to see a doctor for two weeks. It was where Clarke had nursed Lexa back to health after that particularly bad bout of pneumonia. This apartment was the secret third partner in Clarke and Lexa’s relationship, and letting it go felt like letting go a loved one.

 

“Are you okay, baby?” Lexa asks, wrapping her arms around Clarke

“Just emotional that we’re saying goodbye to this place.” Lexa hums in agreement. 

“I know something that will cheer you up,” Lexa says, pressing a kiss to Clarke’s cheek.

“Yeah?”

“Grab your overalls from your suitcase,” Lexa tells the blonde, “I made plans for us.”

 

And that’s how Clarke finds herself in an empty pottery class on a Tuesday night. A short woman named Indra shows them the basics, how to manipulate the clay to get the shape they want before shooting Lexa a small wink and retreating, giving the couple some privacy (but not before pressing play on the iPod plugged into the sound system). The two girls laugh as they make their masterpieces, each trying to make a better piece than their girlfriend. When they finish, Lexa gestures to a third wheel.

 

“Wanna make something together?” she suggests, letting Clarke take a seat, and then sitting behind her. Their hands overlap, running through the clay, forming it and breaking it down over and over as the music plays behind them. Lexa nuzzles into her neck and Clarke leans back into her, Lexa taking over all of her senses. Her ears perk up and she listens to the music playing softly in the background.

 

_ Oh, my love, my darling _

_ I hunger for your touch _

_ A long, lonely time _

_ And time goes by so slowly _

_ And time can do so much _

_ Are you still mine? _

 

“Oh my god,” Clarke says, sitting up straight. Her hands stop moving in Lexas. “You’re Swayze-ing me.”

“What?”

“Ghost. You’re totally Ghosting me right now.”

 

Lexa pulls at Clarke’s arm, so the blonde is facing her. Blue meets green, sky meeting earth once again.

 

“Clarke.”

“Lexa.” Clarke feels her heart hammering in her chest. She’s hyper aware of Lexa’s clay-covered hand leaving a mark on her overalls, of the intensity of the brunette’s stare.

“I have an important question to ask you,” Lexa says, and all Clarke can do is nod.

“Clarke Griffin… where in the new house do you think we should put our pottery?”

 

Clarke jumps off Lexa’s lap, shoving her as she stalks away. Lexa falls of the stool, landing with a thud.

 

“Lexa Woods, you are the worst!”

“Clarke Griffin, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lexa replies, unable to keep the smile from her face.

 

///

 

**Wednesday:**

 

They had arrived in Utah early that morning and settled quickly in their hotel, getting ready for the premiere of All I Ask that night. Clarke has never seen Lexa more tightly wound, fidgety and nervous, so unlike her usual cool demeanour. Clarke stands by her side as she gives interviews on the red carpet, and Clarke holds her hand tightly as the lights dim in the theatre.

 

Clarke is also the first one on her feet when the crowd gives Lexa’s debut film a fifteen minute standing ovation. Tears in her eyes, pride in her heart, Clarke cheers for girlfriend’s masterpiece. Clarke watches with fondness as Lexa takes the stage with her cast, the applause deafening, the crowd ecstatic. It takes the moderator too long to quieten the audience. The cast field questions about the characters and the story and Lexa chooses to remain silent, preferring to let her actors talk; she had chosen a life behind the camera for a reason.

 

“Lexa, this is your first film, and I think we can all surmise that it’ll be a big hit. Do you think you’ll be able to achieve something of this magnitude again?”

 

“Geez, at least let me enjoy this film before I start the next,” she says, and the crowd laughs. “I guess my aim isn’t to make something of the same magnitude, it’s to make something new and different next time around. I’m just thankful that I’ve got the muse that keeps on giving so I won’t run out of ideas any time soon.” The crowd lets out a collective ‘aww’ as Lexa smiles down at Clarke, who blushes furiously.

 

“So we can expect lots of blonde protagonists in your future works?”

“Lots of blonde, very pretty protagonists, yes.” The crowd laughs.

“It must be hard, putting so much of your life onto the screen when you’re so adamant about your privacy.”

“Quite the contrary, it’s easier to put aspects of my life into my films because I get to choose the parts I want you to see and how I present them. I’m in control.”

“Seeing as you are so private, what’s one thing you can tell all your new fans about yourself?”

Before Lexa can answer, one of the actors jumps in.

“She’s a wonderful musician. Like, really good. We’d make her play guitar and sing for us all the time on set.” The crowd murmurs, surprised by the news. 

 

And then the music starts. People don’t realize what’s happening at first, but as soon as they do they start going nuts. One by one, the cast members sing, but Clarke’s only got eyes for Lexa’s nervous smile.

 

_ You’re just too good to be true _

_ Can’t take my eyes off you _

_ You’d be like heaven to touch _

_ I wanna hold you so much. _

_ At long last love has arrived _

_ And I thank God I’m alive. _

_ You’re just too good to be true _

_ Can’t take my eyes off you _

 

The music plays again, and the actors move aside, letting Lexa take centre stage. She takes a deep breath before singing.

 

_ I love you baby and if it's quite all right  _

_ I need you baby to warm the lonely nights  _

_ I love you baby, trust in me when I say  _

_ Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down I pray  _

_ Oh pretty baby, now that I've found you stay  _

_ And let me love you baby, let me love you  _

 

Clarke’s heard Lexa sing hundreds of times. In the shower, on karaoke night, when she’s danced around the kitchen like an fool. But she’s never heard Lexa sing like this before, and she feels her breath hitch knowing that her idiot girlfriend is pulling a Heath Ledger and slowly walking off the stage towards where the blonde is sitting. Clarke blushes deeply, knowing that everyone’s staring at her right now but she doesn’t care, because her girlfriend is so damn romantic.

 

The crowd goes wild when the song ends, and Clarke and Lexa kiss. Neither care that a video of the moment will probably go viral over the next week, and neither care that a room filled with strangers is watching an intimate moment between them both.

 

“Thank you for the serenade,” Clarke whispers in Lexa’s ear.

“Thank you for the inspiration.”

 

\\\\\

 

**Sunday:**

 

In all honesty, Clarke was leaving Sundance a little disappointed. She thought she was getting engaged. It had been perfect in the lead up: romantic dates in the beginning of the week, a public serenade, Lexa’s movie being bought by a major company for a large sum of money. And here she was at the airport, no ring on her finger, headed across the country to begin the next stage of their life together.

 

Clarke barely pays attention as Lexa acquires their boarding passes. Until she hears what the flight attendant says as they leave.

 

“Enjoy your trip to D.C.”

“Lexa, why are we going back to D.C??” she questions, panic slowly starting to build. “Who’s gonna meet our boxes at the new house? We need to get to LA!”

“Don’t worry, love,” Lexa soothes, “I forgot something back home I gotta go get. Anya’s meeting our boxes for us in L.A.” But Clarke doesn’t buy it. 

 

She barely makes it through the flight, ready to explode trying to figure out what Lexa’s up to. Lexa is fidgety, too, but Clarke doesn’t care. That’s what she gets for keeping secrets.

 

They land and grab their backs in almost silence, making their way to a cab. Clarke doesn’t catch the address that Lexa murmurs to the driver, but she does recognize the apartment building they pull up in front of almost an hour later. The brunette hands the driver the cash, and the two girls step out into the chilly winter air.

 

“This isn’t our old apartment building.”

“No, it’s not,” Lexa agrees.

“This is where you lived before we moved in together.”

“Yep.”

 

Lexa takes Clarke by the hand, opening the front door (“How do you still have a key for this place??”) and up two flights of stairs. 

 

“This is your old apartment.”

“Yes.”

“Where you lived without me.”

“Yes.”

“Where someone else lives now.”

“This is true.”

 

Lexa pulls out her keys again-- still not letting go of Clarke’s hand-- and opens the door. 

 

Clarke thinks her heart stops beating.

 

The furniture has been pushed to the sides, and sitting in the middle of the large room is a grand piano, candles lit on the countertops and large windowsill. Lexa leads Clarke over to the seat and they sit side by side. Clarke’s heart hammers in her chest, her hands clammy as Lexa finally lets go. She begins to play a familiar tune, and suddenly Clarke has lost the ability to think or talk or feel. She is numb to everything but Lexa’s soft song. Her eyes tear when she hears the emotion in Lexa’s voice as she begins to speak.

  
  


“Three years, four months and two days ago, I sat on a couch that was right about here, and I watched the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen walk through that door,” Lexa says. Her fingers travel effortlessly over the keys. “She sat down, she insulted my movie taste, and then we watched Casablanca, a classic movie.

 

“I’d seen Casablanca a thousand times, and each time Sam played this song, I’d feel my chest burn, because I wanted someone who loved me like Rick and Ilsa loved each other. And as we watched it that night, three years, four months and two days ago, I listened to As Time Goes By and it made my heart swell and my hands sweaty because all I could focus on was you sitting on the other side of the room. And now when I hear this song, I’m confident I found someone who loves me so selflessly, and who pushes me to love in the same way. I know I’ve found someone who loves me more than Rick loves Ilsa, more than anyone has loved another before.

 

“I wanted to do a big romantic gesture for you, so I planned like three. Nothing seemed right. No big movie gesture truly captured the way I feel for you. You don’t deserve just one big thing to show you my love, you don’t deserve a week’s full. You deserve every single moment for the rest of our lives. You deserve an eternity where you understand just how incredible you are, and just how happy you make me.

 

I love you, Clarke Griffin. I love you more than anybody else in this world. I love you more than life itself. Clarke, I love you more than I love movies.” Clarke laughs a watery laugh, wiping away the tears that keep on coming.  “And I brought you back here tonight because I couldn’t leave this part of our lives behind without making sure we’ve got a headstart on the next part. I want everything with you. A house with a home cinema, a whole bunch of little mini-mes running around, and just more love than we ever could’ve imagined. In the wise words of Harry Burns, when you realize you wanna spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. 

 

“So. Clarke Griffin. The light of my life. The love of my life. The keeper of my heart. Will you-- please-- let me marry you?” Lexa stops playing and silence rings out in the small room. She pulls a small box from her pocket and opens it, the modest diamond ring sitting on a velvet throne. Clarke puts a hand on Lexa’s chin, pulling her head up so they can look into each others eyes. Wet green eyes find shining blue ones, earth and sky meeting like they did all those years before.

 

“Yes, I’ll marry you,” she laughs, and Lexa lets out a shaky sigh of relief, slipping the ring onto Clarke’s finger. Clarke pulls her forward, their lips finding each other as though that’s what they were built for.

 

“I love you so much,” Lexa tells Clarke.

“I love you, too,” Clarke breathes, smiling at the adoration etched in her fiance’s features.

 

They sit like that for what could’ve been minutes or hours, who knows. And when they sleep that night (“I can’t believe you paid someone three hundred dollars to rent out their apartment to us for a night), tangled in each other, their hearts beat in unison and their breaths match as they slowly even out. They are one being, made of love and happiness and light brighter than the sun.

 

Lexa knows she’s found her happy ending, and she sleeps easy, knowing that she’s still got a lifetime of happiness to come.

 


End file.
